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As this newspaper had reported, when Reliance Industries came calling to pick two executive assistants (EAs) for its chief, Mukesh Ambani, IIM graduates, unsurprisingly, responded with gusto.

This means two things. First, RIL's talent hunt for two EAs perhaps indicates that large Indian companies are now more or less sold on the idea of a smart fellow shadowing the boss. The Tatas were among the pioneers in India Inc in appointing EAs.

Other majors took longer to take to the idea. And it is only recently that the EA's role has changed from making the boss look smart — at an industry chamber conference, for example — to being the boss's strategy-sounding board. A really talented EA can get fast-tracked real fast. The list of CEOs who started their careers as EAs is set to get longer.

The second implication is more interesting — politicians have had their own version of EAs much before the idea caught the fancy of boardrooms, and how smarter politicians use their EAs offers a valuable lesson to CEOs.

The politician's EA — usually older than corporate EAs — is called many things. But smart politicians use their EA for one thing mostly: to effect big change. Indira Gandhi used P N Haksar for her agenda. Rajiv Gandhi used Gopi Arora. Atal Bihari Vajpayee's change agent was Brajesh Mishra. Montek Singh Ahluwalia played the role for a bit for Manmohan Singh.

In varying degrees, all these appointees cut through resistance and conservatism and plain laziness to place the boss's agenda on the table. That's what CEOs must take note of. If you have a really bright EA, don't just pick his brain and train him for big things. Use him to cut through conservatism, resistance and plain laziness that sometimes afflicts senior management as much as it does the upper reaches of bureaucracy.

CEOs, your EA must be the hammer that breaks down the walls of status quo. Tell your EA to be diplomatic but not to be a reflexive respecter of hierarchy. Most senior bureaucrats don't like a political master's EA. Getting liked is not an ideal EA's job. Getting the job done is.